Sarah Versus the Newspaper
by Imagination-Parade
Summary: There had been very few moments in their relationship when Chuck Bartowski had seen Sarah Walker cry.  When she woke up in a hospital on their wedding day, that morning became one of those moments. Post 4x23. Might be considered spoiler-y for some people.


_Hey everyone! SEASON 5! So excited! I'm sure you all are, too. Makes Monday's finale seem much less scary, no? _

_Anyway, I sat down last night to write a completely different story, and this is what came out instead. It's semi-based on some pictures, promos, and sneak peeks for Monday's show, so if you're very spoiler-phobic, you might want to click out now and come back on Tuesday. This was edited very quickly and not with my full attention, so I apologize for any mistakes. Also, on an unrelated note, this is my 50th story published on this site! I honestly can't believe it._

_As always, _Chuck_ is not mine, and please review when you're through!_

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><p>Despite spending nearly four and a half years as her friend, her partner, her boyfriend, and eventually her fiancé, there had been very few moments in their relationship when Chuck Bartowski had seen Sarah Walker cry. The morning of their wedding day was one of those moments. When he felt a gentle tug on his hand, alerting him that she had finally regained consciousness after collapsing at their rehearsal dinner, his head shot up from its place on the side of the large tub, tears instinctively filling his own eyes.<p>

"Chuck," she whispered weakly, her eyes barely opening. The lights in the room were harsh, and her strength was flimsy at best, but she wanted to see him. She wanted him to tell her that everything was okay.

"Hey…hey, baby. It's okay. I'm right here," he whispered back as he saw her begin to panic about her surroundings. He placed a hand against the sweat-soaked hair on the back of her head in an attempt to calm her.

Chuck (and Ellie and Devon) had ridden in the ambulance with her, abandoning all their rehearsal dinner guests without a second thought. Morgan and Casey had followed in a car behind them. The doctors weren't entirely sure how to help her, more than a little befuddled at how such a seemingly healthy young woman could be perfectly fine one minute and collapsed in her fiancé's arms the next. Chuck had to constantly remind himself to be patient with the hospital staff, as they had likely never encountered anything like the Norseman before.

The one thing the doctors did know, however, was that Sarah's temperature was dangerously high, so when they arrived at the hospital, Chuck helped the nurses remove Sarah's clothes and lower her into a tub filled to the brim with ice. He briefly caught something about stabilizing her body's enzymes and preventing brain damage and closely monitoring her vitals, but he barely listened to the medical explanations as he took his place by her side and began silently begging her to wake. After a while, she did.

Once the initial panic at waking up in a giant ice bath had subsided, Sarah slowly glanced around the room. Chuck looked both worried and a little relieved. Ellie looked to be one wrong word away from tears. Devon, who had changed into scrubs, stood with another doctor, reading over Sarah's chart in the corner of the room, and Morgan and Casey stood solemnly by the door. Sarah's eyes zeroed in on the newspaper in Casey's arms. She could just barely make out the date: Saturday, May 21st. The day she was supposed to marry Chuck Bartowski.

Sarah's face crumbled as she looked back at Chuck. Not caring, for once, who was in the room or how many witnesses were there, she broke into hysterical sobs. The relief on Chuck's face instantly disappeared and turned to more worry as he sprung off his chair and to his knees, trying to get closer to her.

"Baby?" Chuck panicked. "Baby, what is it?"

"Paper," was the only word Sarah managed to weakly choke out between sobs.

"Paper? What does that…what do you mean?" Chuck asked frantically. Sarah said nothing and continued to cry. Chuck glanced at his friends. "Guys, give us a minute."

Morgan, Casey, and a now silently-sobbing Ellie left the room, as Devon and Sarah's other doctors took a few steps back. Chuck stroked her head again.

"Chuck," she cried.

"Sarah, baby, I need you to calm down. I know it's hard, honey, but crying like this is just going to make you feel worse, okay?" Chuck said as calmly as he could. "I'm right here, Sarah. I'm not going anywhere."

Sarah caught her breath and, tears still spilling out of her dulled blue eyes, said, "Supposed to be…wedding day."

Chuck mentally filled in the words she had missed and realized she had seen the date on Casey's newspaper. Chuck wiped away some of her tears and whispered, "I know."

"What do we…do?" Sarah whispered, her voice probably only a quarter of its normal strength. Chuck gripped her hand a little bit tighter.

"We get you better," he said. "And then we'll get married and be together…forever…all I care about right now is you getting better."

"If I can…" she whispered.

"No," Chuck said firmly. "Don't even think that. You're going to get better, and we're going to get married."

"Told you…we should've…eloped," she teased, a small, tired grin crossing her face.

Chuck sadly smiled, partially glad that she was apparently feeling well enough to tease and partially sorry that he hadn't eloped with her months ago. He decided to go along with the joke, wanting to see her smile again.

"Oh, I see…was this part of your plan to ultimately convince me to elope?" he teased back, a half-hearted goofy grin on his face. "Because, honey, you can't just call on my nemesis every time you want to win a disagreement in this relationship."

She grinned again. "We'll see…about that."

The couple's smiles faded as the gravity of their situation sunk back in. A few tears escaped her eyes again. He used one hand to brush them away, gently caressing her face in the process, and she lightly tugged on his hand again.

"I wanted…today…too," she sighed, her eyes beginning to flutter open and shut.

Chuck nodded. "I know."

He glanced behind him, looking to Devon for permission. Devon nodded, and Chuck leaned in and placed a gentle, loving kiss on Sarah's lips. She didn't have the strength to return his affection, so she made a little noise in pleasure to thank him for the kiss as he pulled away. Chuck stroked her hair again and sat back to look at her, but her eyes remained closed after Chuck's kiss.

"Sarah?" he asked. He waited a few moments and repeated, "Sarah?"

When she didn't respond, Devon stepped forward. He nodded towards the door, and said, "Bro."

Chuck stood and joined him by the door. He stood, however, so that he wouldn't have to take his eyes off of Sarah. "Yeah, Devon, what…uh…" he muttered.

"What exactly happened last night?" Devon asked quietly.

"Vivian Volkoff targeted her with the Norseman!" Chuck quietly panicked, keeping his voice door as the room was still filled with other nurses and doctors. "It's a weapon that targets victims by their, uh, by their DNA."

"What specifically does it do?" Devon asked.

"I don't know! Sarah's the first survivor," Chuck said. He pointed to the bathtub where Sarah lay sleeping. "_That_. That's what it does!"

"Okay, then I need you to go do what you do and find out more about this weapon or get an antidote or a reversal gadget or something because without knowing what it is or what exactly it does, I don't know how to help her, and I can only guess as to how much time she has," Devon said.

"You can't help her?" Chuck asked in alarm, picking up on only that part of what Devon had told him. Devon placed a hand on Chuck's shoulder in comfort.

"We can treat her symptoms as they pop up, but if the root of her illness or whatever this is comes from a spy problem, it's not something I know how to fix on my own," Devon said.

"I can't…it's Sarah," Chuck said. "I can't leave her."

"Yes, you can, bro. Alex and her bridesmaids arrived at the hospital shortly after we did, and Ellie's not going anywhere. I'll make sure one of her friends is with her at all times," Devon said. He could see Chuck still struggling with the thought of leaving, so he added, "Chuck…you're her best hope, man."

Chuck nodded. He stepped around Devon and grabbed Sarah's hand again, lowering himself to his knees by the bathtub. He kissed her forehead and softly said, "Don't freak out if you wake up and I'm not here, okay, baby? I'm going to fix this." He kissed her hand, wrapped both of his hands around it, and said, "I love you, Sarah. I'm going to fix this."

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><p>Sarah woke up again when they were moving her out of the ice bath and into a bed. Ellie was with her, and she helped dry her off and get her into a gown. Ellie sat at the edge of Sarah's bed and held her hand as Sarah cried about how Ellie was supposed to be helping her into a wedding gown.<p>

"The cats got here this morning," Ellie told her in an attempt to cheer her up. "Do you want me to go get them?"

"No," Sarah said. She still spoke slowly but sounded a little stronger than she had with Chuck. "God, no. If Carina sees me this upset over a wedding, even though it's _my_ wedding, I'll never hear the end of it."

"It'll all be okay, Sarah," Ellie said with a smile and a nod, saying it for her benefit as much as Sarah's.

"Where's Chuck?" Sarah finally asked.

"He's off being your knight-in-shining-armor," Ellie smiled. "He's trying to fix this."

"What does that mean?" Sarah asked.

"I don't know," Ellie admitted. "To be honest, I don't think I want to know. But I have faith in him."

"Thanks for being here, Ellie," Sarah whispered.

"Hey," Ellie grinned, squeezing Sarah's hand. "What are sisters for?"

By the time Chuck returned, Sarah was back in the ice bath, and Ellie was still by her side. Chuck walked into her room carefully, not wanting to wake her if she was asleep. Ellie stood as Chuck arrived, and Sarah faintly smiled. Chuck shot her a big, reassuring grin and then turned to his sister.

"She's still in that thing?" Chuck asked, the smile on his face disappearing.

"She was in bed most of the day," Ellie said. "Her temperature skyrocketed about fifteen minutes ago."

"How's it looking, El?" Chuck asked.

Ellie sighed. "Not good, Chuck," she said. "I'll let you be alone with her."

"Thanks, sis," he said, giving her a brief hug on her way out. Chuck took a seat by the bathtub again and grabbed Sarah's hand.

"Hey, you," Sarah sighed.

"Hi," Chuck smiled. Sarah shifted around in the ice a bit, and Chuck said, "Is that just the most uncomfortable thing in the world because it sure looks like it."

"Feels pretty good, actually," she said.

Chuck then noticed that her face and upper body were flushed red with heat and slicked with sweat. He dropped her hand and scooped a couple ice cubes up into each of his palms. He pressed the ice to her red cheeks, and she moaned, slipping her eyes shut. He began moving the rapidly-melting ice over her skin, and she moaned again.

"Do you like that?" he asked.

"Yes," she sighed.

Chuck turned to the nurse. "Is this okay?"

The nurse nodded, so he grabbed another handful of cubes and pressed them to her forehead, watching as the water trickled down along the curve of her nose. The frozen ice was burning his hands, but he alternated between running ice along her face and rubbing the frozen cubes down the tops of her arms. She kept her eyes closed and sighed as he took care of her.

"How's it going?" she finally asked.

"Good. I, uh…I almost have the antidote," he said quietly. "But umm…after I get it, we might have to disappear." Her eyes shot open.

"What?" she breathed as if she were in pain. "_No_, Chuck!"

"Sarah," Chuck started.

"But our family," she cried.

Chuck sighed, knowing that their life in Burbank was the only real family Sarah had ever had. "I know, baby," he said. "I don't want to do it, either, but if my choices are between disappearing or saving you, then I will always choose to save you. _Always_."

Tears began running down Sarah's face again. "Chuck, I love you."

"I love you," he said. "Get some rest. I'll be back in a bit with the antidote. We'll figure this out."

Sarah nodded and slipped her eyes shut, trying to sleep despite the grief she was feeling. Chuck kissed her forehead again and quietly left to return Ellie to her post and be on time for his meeting with the Volkoffs.

A couple hours later, Chuck Bartowski had saved his girl. Thanks to some strong help and support from General Beckman, Casey, the CAT Squad, and heck, even Morgan, he even managed to succeed in a way that didn't require him and his lovely bride to disappear. Chuck raced back to the hospital and slipped Sarah the medicine she needed when only Devon was looking. She recovered fully within thirty-six hours. Chuck never left her side. The doctors, minus Ellie and Devon, were astonished and at a loss for an explanation when all of their testing yielded results of Sarah suddenly, once again, being perfectly fine.

"What are we going to do about the wedding?" Sarah asked as she sat on her bed in the hospital and signed the mountain of discharge papers Devon had brought her.

"Oh, I've got some thoughts on that," Chuck said coyly as he rolled back and forth in the wheelchair she'd be rolled out in.

"Well…do tell," Sarah said.

"Remember my original proposal plan?" Chuck asked.

"Yeah," Sarah said. Chuck stopped playing in the wheelchair and smiled at her. Sarah caught his drift and smiled, too.

They got married a week later, sitting on the beach in Malibu. They were surrounded by only a dozen guests – Mary, Ellie, Devon, Clara, Morgan, Casey, Alex, Carina, Zondra, Big Mike, Jeff, and Lester. Chuck wore khakis and a blue button-down shirt, while Sarah wore a white sundress that proved to only be a tiny bit transparent after she and Chuck spontaneously went splashing through the waves together after saying 'I do' and sealing their marriage with a kiss. Their after-wedding party on the beach was filled with laughter and dancing and kissing and, yes, a performance from Jeffster. When it was time for the sun to set, Chuck lay down in the sand, and Sarah curled up against her husband. She grabbed his left hand and held it up beside hers to admire their new rings. After a few moments, Chuck leaned his head down to meet hers, using his face to force her to look up at him.

"Looks pretty good, doesn't it, Mrs. Bartowski?" he said softly. He leaned in as if he were about to kiss her and held steady just millimeters from her lips, a teasing grin on his face.

She laughed and took control, clutching his face in her palm. "Yes," she sighed blissfully, pulling him in for a long, deep, passionate kiss. When they pulled out of the kiss, she smiled and repeated, "Yes!"

Chuck brushed some dampened blonde hair behind her ear, smiled at her, and entwined their fingers, resting their joined hands on his stomach. He looked towards the sunset for a few moments, and then looked back at his wife. "This was beautiful," he said.

Sarah nodded in agreement but said, "I'm sorry you didn't exactly get the big, traditional, family wedding you wanted."

Chuck looked around the beach after she had finished speaking. Morgan and Alex were snuggling just like them, while Casey, who was trying not to let that bother him, sat behind them with Kathleen, who had joined them on the beach late that afternoon. The Buy More crew was sitting together watching the sunset. The CAT Squad girls were loudly dancing in the water, and their family sat nearest to them, playing in the sand with Baby Clara. It was perfect.

"All of the really important people are here," Chuck said. He pulled her just a little bit closer, gave her another soft kiss, and added, "Besides…all I need's the girl."

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><p><em>I always thought it would be fun if Chuck's Proposal Plan had become Chuck &amp; Sarah's Wedding Plan. Though I'm sure it'll be amazing no matter where (or how) it happens.<em>

_Thanks for reading! Don't forget to review :)_


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